Former Today programme presenter Sarah Montague has seen an increase in pay, while John Humphrys has taken a pay cut.
Photograph: Rick Findler/PA

The BBC is facing a backlash after revealing that just two of its top 20 most highest-paid stars are women, despite the corporation’s efforts to address its significant on-air gender pay gap.

The BBC said the number of women making its list of stars paid £150,000 or more increased from 14 to 22 in the year to the end of March, accounting for 34% of the 64-strong list.

The corporation said this would rise to 28 of 69 (41%) by the end of March next year when this year’s pay cuts for male stars – and rises for underpaid female talent – took full effect.

Female presenters to have moved on to the list include Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis, who earns between £220,000 and £230,000; Woman’s Hour presenter Jane Garvey, who earns £150,000 to £160,000; and former Today programme presenter Sarah Montague, now at World at One, who earns £160,000 to £170,000.

However, only Vanessa Feltz and Claudia Winkleman, the highest-paid female BBC star on £370,000 to £380,000, made the top 20. Winkleman receives a fifth of the pay of the best-paid man, sports presenter Gary Lineker, who receives £1.75m. Winkleman ranks 13th in the top 20, with Feltz 15th equal.

The director general of the BBC, Tony Hall, said the corporation was not being “disingenuous” by focusing on the progress in the proportion of women making the list instead of the ongoing stark pay differential with men. The BBC is aiming to have women make up 50% of the over-£150,000 pay list by 2020.

“We are focusing on that as these things take time,” he said in a press conference. “We would expect [over time] that more women will be in the top 10. It is not disingenuous in the slightest. We have made a huge amount of progress in the last year. Am I satisfied with that? Of course not. Success would be 50-50 and much more equitable pay for men and women.”

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The BBC has increased transparency this year by narrowing the pay bands it reports from £50,000 to £10,000. The increase in the number of women making the list comes as big-name stars have agreed to significant pay cuts, helping the corporation in its effort bridge the male-female chasm in pay.

The BBC highlighted three of its biggest male stars who agreed to have their pay deals revealed. The salary of Radio 4’s Today programme presenter John Humphrys will have fallen by 50% when a series of staged cuts are complete by March next year. Humphrys came in for criticism over a leaked recording of comments he made about the former BBC China editor Carrie Gracie’s dispute over unequal pay.

He was paid between £600,000 and £650,000. This has now been reduced to between £400,000 to £410,000, with the BBC saying that next year it will fall to “below” £300,000.

Radio 5 Live’s Nicky Campbell will see his pay drop from £410,000 to £420,000 to “below” £350,000 by next March, with a further cut after that. And the remuneration of BBC News presenter Huw Edwards, whose pay was between £550,000 and £559,000, will fall to “well below” £500,000 by next year and “continue to fall”.

Overall the BBC spent almost £19m on its 64 best-paid on-air stars.

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The efforts to close the gender pay gap at the BBC will result in the total number of on-air stars paid more than £150,000 rising by almost a fifth from 58 to 69 by 1 April 2019.

Despite the progress, critics argue that the BBC has, if anything, become less transparent since spinning off its TV production arm, which makes shows such as EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing, and merging it with BBC Worldwide.

A string of top earners including BBC One Show presenters Matt Baker and Alex Jones (the second best-paid female BBC star), DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles and Strictly’s Tess Daly have disappeared from the list. This is because programmes they were paid for are now produced by the newly merged entity, BBC Studios. It is classed as a commercial entity and does not publish how much it pays people.

As a result, while last year’s list of the BBC’s top-paid stars featured 96 names, this year that number has shrunk to 69. In addition, the reduction of some stars’ pay may be smaller than it appears. Humphrys’ job fronting Mastermind is now paid by BBC Studios, for instance, and so is not disclosed.

Hall said excluding BBC Studios pay figures had done the corporation “no favours” as it actually reduced the number of women, and higher-earning women, in the list, and that including them would have improved its gender and salary mix.

“We are not hiding anything,” said Hall. “Our public service side is going to degrees of transparency we have never gone before.”

The BBC’s list also only counts remuneration directly paid from the BBC licence fee. This means it does not include payments to staff through independent production companies that make programmes for the BBC, or payments from BBC Worldwide.

As a result, the list still does not include stars such as Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch, Question Time’s David Dimbleby, Have I Got News For You’s Ian Hislop, Sir David Attenborough or Alan Sugar.